Communication portable device and communication method

ABSTRACT

A method for managing the communication between a communication portable device ( 200 ) including a NFC device and a NFC tag ( 100 ) including a plurality of information, comprises comprising determining a position and/or orientation of the communication portable device ( 200 ) and enabling the communication portable device to read a portion of the plurality of information units, depending on the position and/or orientation of the communication portable device.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a communication portable device and acommunication method. More particularly the present invention relates tocommunication portable devices and communication methods which uses theNear Field Communication (NFC) technology.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

NFC technology is commonly available and used for contactless exchangeof information between portable devices, for example personal digitalassistants like smartphones, and NFC tags including one or moreinformation. According to the NFC standard, information is presented asNDEF (“NFC Data Exchange Format”) codes. Transmission of informationbetween NFC device and tag normally occurs when they are brought at arelative distance of 4 cm or less.

It is also possible that a plurality of NFC tags are arranged instructures like panels, walls, or totems, in order to make a greaternumber of information available to a user of the portable device.

Normally all the information available in one or more NFC tags aretransferred to the NFC device when the latter is put within 4 cm fromthe tag or tags containing the information. This can result in anexcessive consumption of the device resources, e.g. of memory, thuslimiting the number of possible information which can be embedded in theNFC tag.

Methods for choosing between multiple available information have beenalready developed and described.

WO 2012/159673 shows that different information, for example user'smanual instructions, is presented to a user of a mobile device whenreading a single NFC tag, depending on which application is active atthe moment of reading.

US 2013/0153650 discloses that different information could be presentedto a user when reading a single RFID tag depending on context, e.g. timeof day, location etc.

US 2013/0181050 presents a method where a predetermined gesture, e.g.shake or tilt, is used to select which type of tag is going to be read.

Methods are also known for making the exchanged information dependentfrom the orientation of the portable device.

For example, EP 2493160 discloses a method wherein a mobile phone usesits accelerometer to determine its absolute orientation while reading anNFC tag to determine data transfer direction between the mobile phoneand the NFC tag. Depending on the orientation communication isestablished or not. No selection of the information is provided by themethod.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,579,196, instead, shows that the relative orientationbetween a scanned NFC tag and a mobile phone is used to interpret thescanned information. The mobile phone interprets the same tag as aplurality of tags, depending on an angle between the tag and an axis ofthe mobile phone. However, according to U.S. Pat. No. 8,579,196, theentire information included in the tag is transferred to the mobilephone, only its interpretation depending from the relative orientation.In other words, the method, rather than providing for a selection amonga plurality of information, provides for a concise system of having in asingle tag a plurality of information which should otherwise presentedin a plurality of tags, each differing from the others for a respectiveangle of rotation with respect to a common reference.

OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It may be an object of the present invention to provide a method foroptimally selecting among a plurality of information available on asingle NFC tag, in order that a desired portion of the information istransferred to a communication portable device.

In order to achieve the objects defined above, a method for managing thecommunication between a communication portable device including a NFCdevice and a NFC tag including a plurality of information is provided. Acommunication portable device including a controller for implementingthe method of the present invention is also provided. The dependentclaims describe advantageous developments and modifications of theinvention.

According to a first expect of the present invention, a method formanaging the communication between a communication portable deviceincluding a NFC device and a NFC tag including a plurality ofinformation, the method comprising determining a position and/ororientation of the communication portable device and enabling thecommunication portable device to read a portion of the plurality ofinformation unit, depending on the position and/or orientation of thecommunication portable device.

With “communication portable device” it is meant a personal digitalassistant (PDA), smartphone, tablet, MPEG player or similar. In generalthe expression “communication portable device” may include any devicewhich could be handle by a single user and which can establish acommunication with at least another device, for example with a NFC tag.

With “information unit” it is meant any piece of information which canbe read by a NFC device, in particular a NDEF code. According toexemplary embodiments of the present invention, each NDEF code maycorrespond to an application or function to be executed on acommunication portable device.

A plurality of information can be embedded in a NFC tag, for example aplurality of NDEF codes.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the methodperforms the following sequence of steps:

it recognizes the number of information units included in the NFC tag,

it discretizes a round angle, in the surface where the NFC tag is lying,in a plurality of angular sectors, the number of angular sectors beingequal to the number of information units comprised in the NFC tag,

it associating each angular sector to one information unit, -itrecognizes the angular sector towards which the axis of thecommunication portable device is oriented,

it finally reads the information unit associated to the recognizedangular sector.

According to a second expect of the present invention, a communicationportable device includes:

a NFC device configured for reading a plurality of information from aNFC tag,

a sensor for determining a position and/or orientation of thecommunication portable device,

a controller associated with the NFC device for enabling said NFC deviceto read a portion of the plurality of information, depending on theposition and/or orientation of the communication portable device.

According to a further expect of the present invention, a communicationsystem including a communication portable device according to claim 1and at least a NFC tag including a plurality of information.

It has to be noted that embodiments of the invention have been describedwith reference to different subject matters. In particular, someembodiments have been described with reference to method type claimswhereas other embodiments have been described with reference toapparatus type claims. However, a person skilled in the art will gatherfrom the above and the following description that, unless othernotified, in addition to any combination of features belonging to onetype of subject matter also any combination between features relating todifferent subject matters, in particular between features of the methodtype claims and features of the apparatus type claims is considered asto be disclosed with this application.

The aspects defined above and further aspects of the present inventionare apparent from the examples of embodiment to be described hereinafterand are explained with reference to the examples of embodiment. Theinvention will be described in more detail hereinafter with reference toexamples of embodiment but to which the invention is not limited.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a schematical view of a system including a communicationportable device and an NFC tag according to present invention,

FIGS. 2 to 5 show the system of FIG. 1 in four respective operativeconfigurations,

FIG. 6 shows a schematical view of an alternative embodiment of thesystem in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a tag 100 including a plurality of information units isattached. The tag 100 is typically installed on a support, for example awall, a table, an advertising totem pole or column.

Tag 100 is typically an NFC tag, wherein a plurality of informationunits have been embedded. The information units are in the NDEF code,which may correspond, for example, to URLs to be opened, applications tobe downloaded and/or executed, or functions to be executed in acommunication portable device. According to other embodiments of thepresent invention the information is embedded in the tag using anothertype of code, being the type of information coding inside the tag notthe specific object of this invention.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, NFC tag 100 includes four informationunits. According to other embodiments (not shown) of the presentinvention, NFC tag 100 include a different number of information units.

NFC tag 100 also includes the information about the number ofinformation units which are included in the tag 100.

NFC tag 100 has a rectangular shape delimited by two base edges L1, L2,respectively upper and lower and two lateral edges L3, L4, respectivelyleft end right. NFC tag 100 also include an angular zero reference 101,i.e. a mark of triangular shape or, according to other differentembodiments, of other shape. The angular zero reference 101 defines areference axis A1 of the tag 100, passing through the angular zeroreference 101 and the center of the tag 100.

With reference to the alternative embodiment in FIG. 6 the angular zeroreference 101 and reference axis A1 are oriented along one of thediagonals of the rectangular tag 100. In general, with reference toother alternative embodiments of the present invention another positionof the angular zero reference 101 and, therefore, another orientation ofthe reference axis A1, can be chosen. According to other embodiment ofthe present invention the shape of the tag 100 is not rectangular.

With reference to the embodiment in FIG. 1, with respect to the angularzero reference 101 and the reference axis A1, the NFC tag 100 isvirtually divided in four angular sector 110, 120, 130, 140 around thecentre of the NFC tag 100, i.e. in a number of angular sectorscorresponding to the number of information units embedded in the NFC tag100. For the complete round angle 300 around the centre of the NFC tag100, an angular interval ranging from −180° to 180° clockwise isdefined, where position 0° corresponds to the angular zero reference101, subinterval −90° to 0° corresponds to the first angular sector 110,subinterval 0° to 90° corresponds to the second angular sector 120,subinterval −180° to −90° corresponds to the third angular sector 130and subinterval 90° to 180° corresponds to the fourth angular sector140. In each angular sector 110, 120, 130, 140, the NFC tag 100comprises a correspondent text tag 111, 121, 131, 141 defining the names(four names “Info 1”, “Info 2”, “Info 3”, “Info 4” in the embodimentshown in FIG. 1) of the information units embedded in NFC tag 100. Forexample the strings “Info 1”, “Info 2”, “Info 3”, “Info 4” may be theURLs, or names of applications, or names of functions corresponding tothe four NDEF codes embedded in the NFC tag 100.

With reference to the embodiment in FIG. 6, for the complete round angle300 around the centre of the NFC tag 100, an angular interval rangingfrom −180° to 180° clockwise is defined, where position 0° correspondsto the angular zero reference 101, subinterval −45° to 45° correspondsto the position of the first text tag 111, subinterval 45° to 135°corresponds to the to the position of the second text tag 121,subinterval −135° to −45° corresponds to the position of the third texttag 131 and subintervals 135° to 180° and −180° to −135° corresponds tothe position of the fourth text tag 141.

FIGS. 1 to 6 also shows a communication portable device 200, having anaxis X oriented from bottom to top of the communication portable device200. “Bottom and “top” are referred to the normal “portrait” orientationof a screen 201 of the communication portable device 200, when in use.The communication portable device 200 includes an NFC device configuredto communicate by means of the NFC standard with the NFC tag 100. TheNFC device is a standard and known-in-the-art device and for this reasonit is not described more in detail. The communication portable device200 further includes a sensor, for example an accelerometer, fordetermining a position and/or orientation of the axis X. Thecommunication portable device 200 includes a controller associated withthe NFC device and configured in order to execute a method for managingthe communication between the communication portable device 200 and theNFC tag 100, according to the present invention.

With reference to FIGS. 2 to 5, a method for managing the communicationbetween the communication portable device 200 and the NFC tag 100includes the following sequence of steps:

in a first step the communication portable device 200 is brought inproximity (within a range of 4 cm, according to the NFC standard) of theNFC tag 100, in order that a communication can be established betweenthe NFC device and NFC tag 100. The communication portable device 200 isto be oriented parallel or only slightly inclined (i.e. less than 10°,according to possible embodiments of the present invention) to the NFCtag 100 in order that the communication between communication portabledevice 200 and NFC tag 100 is not disturbed,

then, in a second step, the method recognizes the number of informationunits included in the NFC tag 100 and acquire the position of theangular zero reference 101,

then, in a third step, the method discretizes a round angle 300 on theNFC tag 100 in a plurality of angular sectors 110, 120, 130, 140 thenumber of angular sectors being equal to the number of information unitscomprised in the NFC tag 100,

then, in a fourth step, the method associates each angular sector 110,120, 130, 140 to one information unit in the NFC tag 100,

then, in a fifth step, the method recognizes the angular sector towardswhich the axis X of the communication portable device 200 is oriented bymeasuring its absolute angular distance from angular zero reference 101,

finally, in a sixth step, the method reads in the NFC tag 100 only theinformation unit associated to the recognized angular sector. In each ofFIGS. 2 to 5 the method respectively recognizes and reads theinformation unit associated with each angular sector 110, 120, 130, 140.

If, according to one possible embodiment of the invention, theinformation units are URLs, then in FIG. 1 the URL “Info 1”, isrecognized and read, in order to be automatically opened in the webbrowser included in the communication portable device 200.

The above method is in an analogous way applied also to the alternativeembodiment of FIG. 6.

According to an alternative embodiment of the present invention, notrepresented in the attached figures, the angular zero reference 101 isnot present on the tag 100 and therefore its position is not acquired inthe second step of the method. In such cases, an angular zero referenceis identified during the first or second step of the method by orientingthe portable device 200 according to one of the edge of tag 100, forexample, with reference to the rectangular tag of the attached figures,by orienting the portable device 200 parallel to the two base edges L1,L2 or to the two lateral edges L3, L4, and memorizing the orientation ofaxis X as an angular zero reference axes.

According to an alternative embodiment of the present invention,acquiring the position of the angular zero reference 101 is notnecessary, the axis A1 corresponding to a vertical axis, oriented fromthe ground upwards, of the location where tag 100 is installed. In suchcases, the installation of the tag 100 has to be done with greater care,on a vertical plane, for example a wall. In the case of the rectangulartag lateral edges L3, L4 have to be parallel to the vertical directionand positions of base edges L1, L2 have not to be inverted with respectto one another, as this would cause “Info 4” to be recognized as “Info1” and “Info 3” to be recognized as “Info 2”. According to thisembodiment, in a fifth step, the method recognizes the angular sectortowards which the axis X of the communication portable device 200 isoriented by measuring its absolute angular distance from the verticaldirection.

A great number of applications are possible for the method of thepresent invention. For example in the field of public transportation twopossible applications are:

a tag 100 at a bus stop, wherein “Info 1”, “Info 2”, “Info 3”, “Info 4”contains the URL of a website, or the link to a software application forportable devices, providing direct information four different bus lines,respectively. For example the information could be the respectivetimetable of the respective bus line or, combining the information aboutthe location of the portable device, the time when the next bus of therespective line is expected to pass at that bus stop. At the bus stopthe user simply orient the portable device 200 towards one of the texttag 111, 121, 131, 141 to obtain the desired information.

a tag 100 at a bus stop, having combined information, for example sixunits information, the first four units corresponding to a bus line andthe other two to a pair of information which can be related to each busline, for example timetable and line map. At a bus stop the user, forexample, simply orient the portable device 200 first towards the texttag “map” and then towards the text “Bus line 1” to get the bus 1 mapvisualized on the portable device 200.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   100 NFC tag,-   101 angular zero reference,-   110, 120, 130, 140 angular sectors,-   200 communication portable device-   201 screen-   300 round angle-   X axis of communication portable device

1. Method for managing the communication between a communicationportable device including a NFC device and a NFC tag including aplurality of information, the method comprising determining a positionand/or orientation of the communication portable device and enabling thecommunication portable device to read a portion of the plurality ofinformation units, depending on the position and/or orientation of thecommunication portable device.
 2. Method according to claim 1, whereinthe method comprises determining the orientation of an axis of thecommunication portable device.
 3. Method according to claim 2, whereinthe method comprises discretizing a round angle in a plurality ofangular sectors, the number of angular sectors being equal to the numberof information units comprised in the NFC tag, associating each angularsector to one information unit, recognizing the angular sector towardswhich the axis of the communication portable device is oriented, readingthe information unit associated to the recognized angular sector. 4.Method according to claim 2, wherein the step of recognizing the angularsector includes acquiring an angular zero reference from the NFC tag andmeasuring the angular distance between the angular zero reference andthe axis of the communication portable device.
 5. Method according toclaim 4, wherein the angular zero reference is a physical mark on theNFC tag.
 6. Method according to claim 4, wherein the angular zeroreference is acquired by orienteering the communication portable deviceparallel to one of the edges of the NFC tag.
 7. Method according toclaim 4, wherein the angular zero reference is a vertical axis of alocation where the NFC tag is installed.
 8. Communication portabledevice including: a NFC device configured for reading a plurality ofinformation from a NFC tag, a sensor for determining a position and/ororientation of the communication portable device, a controllerassociated with the NFC device for enabling said NFC device to read aportion of the plurality of information, depending on the positionand/or orientation of the communication portable device. 9.Communication system including a communication portable device accordingto claim 8 and at least a NFC tag including a plurality of informationunits.